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Trains magazine's, Greatest Train Movies, special magazine edition left out these two.  Murder In The Private Car & Bright Victory, 1951. They have both been on TCM recently.  

Murder In The Private Car, 1934, has a scene where the private car is uncoupled from the train while on an upward grade, by none other than, the villian.....Ha, ha, ha ,ha.........  The car picks up speed as in starts back down the grade.  Of course, the villain has damaged the emergency brake system.  Miraculously as the private car reaches a switchyard, every switchman throws each switch in the proper direction, thus avoiding a collision with numerous freight cars parked on many sidings.  

Another train, the one with the hero, rushes to catch up with the ever speeding private car.  It's a steam loco that eventually catches up with the runaway private car.  Oh, and there's one more catch.  The villain has set explosives on board the private car.  And bump will set them off.  So the locomotive finally catches up with the private car and is a few feet away.  One of the men on board the private car yells to the locomotive engineer not to try and couple with the car.  The engineer must have Superman's ears because he heard the order over the roar of his locomotive.....LOL

So as the locomotive is following the private car each passenger jumps onto the pilot deck of the steam locomotive.  Wow, they should try out for the Olympics !  Naturally, the porter is the last to make the leap.  And that only happened when the rest of the passengers saw him at the vestibule door.  

In Bright Victory a WWII soldier comes home blinded by combat.  Near the end of the film is a nice couple of shots of Broad Street Station platforms. One as he arrives in Philly, the second scene is of the interior near the gates, as he leaves to go back to his duty station. A beautifully spotless, shiny GG1 #4849 along with tuscan passenger cars, also freshly washed, enters the first scene.  

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Joe Hohmann posted:

Sounds pretty dull compared to "Danger Lights". 

Danger Lights was a much better film than Murder In The Private Car, but look how much fun you can have critiquing these films.  If you have ever watched Mystery Theatre 3000 you'll know what I mean.

As for Bright Victory, the film was excellent, in my opinion.  It told a good story, albeit with only a cameo by the Pennsy.

I have to vote for "The Train" with Burt Lancaster.  The man did all his own stunts and did a fine job playing the WWII  part of a French manager who knew all aspects of the operation from yardmaster to mechanic to running a steam engine and outsmarting the Nazis while doing all those trades and even finding time for a little romance. Like any movie it's all make believe but for entertainment value this one is hard to top.

Hot Water posted:
OC Patrick posted:

...haven't seen many "train" movies, but RUNAWAY TRAIN with Jon Voight is memorable to me when I was growing up - great story.

"great story"?????   That movie was an affront to all professional railroaders.

I put "train" in quotes. As far as the story, it's subjective and like I said, it was memorable while I was growing up. By the way, both lead and supporting actors were nominated for the Academy Award that year for this movie.

I like “Silver Streak” •  below is the official movie trailer.

This movie was released in 1976. While on a cross-country train ride, overworked book editor George Caldwell (Gene Wilder) begins an unexpected romance with an enigmatic woman named Hilly Burns (Jill Clayburgh). His vacation is interrupted, however, when he witnesses a murder for which he is then accused. The true villains kidnap Hilly and eject Caldwell from the moving train. Desperate, Caldwell teams up with car thief Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor), and together they must save Hilly while avoiding the police.

1 Silveer Streak

It is now playing on: xfinity On Demand.

Gary

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  • 1 Silveer Streak

Just watched "The Seven-Ups," from 1974, which was on TCM over the weekend. While not a train movie, the climactic action takes place hard by Penn Central trackage in the Bronx, on Erskine Place. A couple GG-1s roll by, one in PC paint, one in Amtrak. And a TurboTrain goes by behind Roy Scheider.

Oh, and for fans of chase scenes, Bill Hickman, the driver of the car Steve McQueen was chasing in "Bullitt," is the lead driver in a chase in this movie. They cross the GWB to Jersey, and then, by magic, they're back on the other side of the Hudson, on the Taconic at the exit for Briarcliff Manor and Millwood.

David

Last edited by NKP Muncie

Danger Lights is a good look at steam power in the 30s or 40s.   I understand it was filmed on the Milwaukee road.    Lots of good steam scenes that I remember, but it has been a long time.    The plot was very 30s and the acting very exaggerated as all movies were in those days.   

Another to add to the list is Breakheart Pass.    Filmed on a narrow gauge line.   

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